The present disclosure relates generally to the field of airbags for use in motor vehicles. More specifically, this disclosure relates to an airbag having a non-inflated portion, upon deployment, to tailor the restraint forces, which may vary along different portions of the airbag, to reduce the likelihood of injury of the occupant.
Airbags are one type of restraint system typically located in vehicles to protect occupants from injury during a vehicle dynamic impact event. Typical restraint systems include sensors located in the vehicle to initiate deployment of the airbag. An airbag may deploy and inflate, by gas rapidly entering the airbag, typically through the use of an inflator containing an explosive charge (e.g., pyrotechnic device). Passenger airbags are typically stored within and deployed from the vehicle dashboard or instrument panel, and are typically packaged through a process of folding and rolling to compact the airbag in order to minimize its required packaging space. During a vehicle dynamic impact event, a passenger airbag may deploy from the upper portion (i.e., above the glove box) of the dashboard, in substantially rearward and upward directions to protect the head and torso of the occupant. A passenger airbag may also deploy from the rear facing portion of the dashboard in substantially a rearward direction towards the occupant. Driver airbags are typically stored within the steering column and are typically packaged through a process of folding and rolling to compact the airbag in order to minimize its required packaging space. During a vehicle dynamic impact event, a driver airbag may deploy in substantially a rearward direction towards the driver to protect the head and torso of the driver.
It has been known to construct a vehicle to include an airbag having a single chamber whereby the gas generated by an inflator is directly forced into the airbag chamber, unfolding and expanding the airbag chamber to provide protection to the vehicle occupant during a vehicle impact. This method of air bag construction may involve mounting the air bag on the top facing surface of the dashboard or on the rear facing surface of the dashboard. It has also been known to construct a bi-lobular air bag, which comprises of a single chamber having two side by side lobes separated by a gap or void, but each lobe being directly inflated by the inflator. These methods of construction have several disadvantages, the key disadvantage being that during deployment of the air bag, each lobe will have substantially similar expansion forces, therefore exerting substantially uniform restraint forces onto all areas of contact with the occupant.
It would be advantageous for an airbag to be constructed to include at least one non-inflated portion (or volume), whereby the size, shape, and location of the non-inflated portion may be configured to tailor the reaction (or restraint) forces from the different portions of the airbag. An airbag having tailored restraint forces, during deployment, may mitigate occupant injury by providing restraint forces optimized for different regions of the occupant (e.g., head and neck regions), according to the varying mass of the different regions of the occupant (e.g., the head has a lower mass than the torso of an occupant). This configuration would provide optimized occupant protection and reduce head and neck injuries.